Patent Grant
10915146
This application claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 201910419119.5 filed on May 20, 2019, the entire content of which is incorporated herein by reference.
The present disclosure relates to the field of terminal technology, and in particular to an electronic device, a method and an apparatus for controlling a flexible panel.
At present, with continuous expansion and optimization of various functions of electronic devices, users have put forward higher requirements on the size of display region on the electronic devices. In the related art, a light transmitting region corresponding to a camera module may be disposed on a screen. Although the size of the display region may be increased to some extent, it fails to realize a real full screen display due to the existence of the light transmitting region which may not be used for display.
The present disclosure provides an electronic device, a method and an apparatus for controlling a flexible panel to overcome the deficiencies in the related art.
According to a first aspect of the present disclosure, an electronic device is provided. The electronic device includes a device body including a plurality of sensor components arranged in a longitudinal line along a first direction; a flexible panel including a display region and a light transmitting region connected with the display region; and a drive mechanism configured to drive the flexible panel to move along a second direction. When at least one of the sensor components is in an operating state, the light transmitting region covers the plurality of sensor components, where the first direction is perpendicular to the second direction.
According to a second aspect of the present disclosure, a method of controlling a flexible panel is provided. The method may be applied to an electric device including a plurality of sensor components and a flexible panel. The method includes: acquiring a preset triggering operation on the electronic device; and generating a switching instruction for instructing the electronic device to switch display states according to the preset triggering operation, where the display states include a first display state and a second display state, when the display region covers the plurality of sensor components, the electronic device is in the first display state, and when the light transmitting region covers the plurality of sensor components, the electronic device is in the second display state.
According to a third aspect of the present disclosure, an apparatus for controlling a flexible panel is provided. The apparatus may be applied to an electronic device including a plurality of sensor components and a flexible panel, and the flexible panel includes a display region and a light transmitting region connected with the display region. The apparatus includes an acquiring module configured to acquire a preset triggering operation on the electronic device; and a generating module configured to generate a switching instruction for instructing the electronic device to switch display states according to the preset triggering operation, where the display states include a first display state and a second display state, when the display region covers the plurality of sensor components, the electronic device is in the first display state, and when the light transmitting region covers the plurality of sensor components, the electronic device is in the second display state.
According to a fourth aspect of the present disclosure, a computer readable storage medium having computer instructions stored thereon is provided. The computer readable storage medium may be applied to an electronic device including a plurality of sensor components and a flexible panel, and the flexible panel includes a display region and a light transmitting region connected with the display region. When the computer instructions are invoked, one or more processors execute the method of controlling the flexible panel described above.
According to a fifth aspect of the present disclosure, an electronic device is provided. The electronic device includes a plurality of sensor components; a flexible panel including a display region and a light transmitting region connected with the display region; one or more processors; and a memory configured to store processor executable instructions, where the processors are configured to perform steps in a method according to the above example when the instructions are executed.
The technical solutions provided by the examples of the present disclosure may include the following beneficial effects.
As can be known from the above examples, the arrangement direction of the plurality of sensor components in the present disclosure is perpendicular to the moving direction of the flexible panel. With the electronic device having both a light sensing function and a full screen display function, when the electronic device is in the light sensing state, an area occupied by the plurality of sensor components is reduced, which is advantageous to improving the aesthetics of the electronic device.
It is to be understood that the above general descriptions and the subsequent detailed descriptions are merely illustrative and explanatory, and are not intended to limit the present disclosure.
The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated into and constitute a part of the specification, illustrate examples consistent with the present disclosure and serve to explain the principles of the present disclosure together with the specification.
Examples will be described in detail herein with the examples thereof expressed in the drawings. When the following descriptions involve the drawings, like numerals in different drawings represent like or similar elements unless stated otherwise. The implementations described in the following examples do not represent all implementations consistent with the present disclosure. On the contrary, they are merely examples of an apparatus and a method consistent with some aspects of the present disclosure described in detail in the appended claims.
The terminology used in the present disclosure is for the purpose of describing a particular example only, and is not intended to be limiting of the present disclosure. The singular forms such as “a”, “said”, and “the” used in the present disclosure and the appended claims are also intended to include multiple, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It is also to be understood that the term “and/or” as used herein refers to any or all possible combinations that include one or more associated listed items.
It is to be understood that although different information may be described using the terms such as “first”, “second”, “third”, etc. in the present disclosure, the information are not limited to these terms. These terms are used only to distinguish the same type of information from each other. For example, the first information may also be referred to as the second information without departing from the scope of the present disclosure, and similarly, the second information may also be referred to as the first information. Depending on the context, the word “if” as used herein may be interpreted as “when” or “as” or “in response to a determination that”.
As shown in
In an embodiment, as shown in
Further, as shown in
For example, as shown in
In an embodiment, as shown in
In another embodiment, as shown in
A first state is that a portion of the display region 21 and a portion of the light transmitting region 22 are located on a same side of the electronic device 100. At this time, the state of the display region 21 located on the same side as the light transmitting region 22 may be adjusted according to light detected by the sensor components 11. In this case, the sensor components 11 may be working normally on this side while the display region 21 performs a display operation on the side. For example, when the sensor component 11 is a camera module, a self-shooting function of the electronic device 100 may be implemented in this state.
A second state is that the display region 21 and the light transmitting region 22 are located on opposite sides of the electronic device 100. When the sensor component 11 is a camera module, a rear shooting function of the electronic device 100 may be implemented. Based on this, the implementation of the front shooting function and the rear shooting function of the electronic device 100 through the same camera module may reduce the cost and optimize the internal space of the electronic device 100.
Further, still as shown in
Based on the electronic device described in the foregoing embodiments, the present disclosure further provides a method of controlling a flexible panel. As shown in
At step 1001, a preset triggering operation on the electronic device is acquired.
At step 1002, a switching instruction is generated according to the preset triggering operation. The switching instruction is used for instructing the electronic device to switch display states. When a display region of the electronic device covers the plurality of sensor components, the electronic device is in a first display state, and when a light transmitting region of the electronic device covers the plurality of sensor components, the electronic device is in a second display state.
In this embodiment, the preset triggering operation may include an operation performed by a user on the electronic device 100. In an embodiment, as shown in
In another embodiment, as shown in
In still another embodiment, as shown in
In some embodiments, the controller may also switch the display states of the electronic device 100 when acquiring an operation of touching a preset virtual key on the electronic device 100 by a user, which will not be described herein again. The electronic device 100 may include one or more of a mobile phone terminal, a tablet computer, and an electronic reader. It is to be noted that in some other embodiments, when a plurality of preset triggering operations as described above are detected at the same time, a triggering condition for the electronic device 100 to switch the display states is to be satisfied.
In the above embodiments, the switching instruction may include indication information for indicating a moving direction and a moving distance of the flexible panel. Specifically, after detecting the preset triggering operation, the moving direction and the moving distance of the flexible panel may be determined, and then the switching instruction is generated according to the moving direction and the moving distance. The moving distance may be a default setting in the electronic device 100, and the moving direction is determined according to current display state of the electronic device 100 and key information included in the preset triggering operation. For example, when it is determined that the electronic device 100 is currently in the first display state and the key information “front shooting” included in the preset triggering operation is extracted, the flexible panel 2 may be adjusted such that the light transmitting region 22 covers a plurality of sensor components 11, and a portion of the display region 21 and the light transmitting region 22 are located on the same side of the electronic device 100; or, when it is determined that the electronic device 100 is currently in the first display state and the key information “rear shooting” included in the preset triggering operation is extracted, the flexible panel 2 may be adjusted such that the light transmitting region 22 covers a plurality of sensor components 11, and the display region 21 and the light transmitting region 22 are located on opposite sides of the electronic device 100.
Corresponding to the embodiment of the method of controlling a flexible panel, the present disclosure also provides an embodiment of an apparatus for controlling a flexible panel.
The acquiring module 141 is configured to acquire a preset triggering operation on the electronic device.
The generating module 142 is configured to generate a switching instruction according to the preset triggering operation. The switching instruction is used for instructing the electronic device to switch display states;
When a display region 21 of the electronic device 100 covers a plurality of sensor components 11, the electronic device 100 is in a first display state, and when a light transmitting region 22 of the electronic device 100 covers the plurality of sensor components 11, the electronic device 100 is in a second display state.
Further, as shown in
The first acquiring unit 1411 is configured to acquire an operation of pressing a preset physical key on the electronic device by a user.
The second acquiring unit 1412 is configured to acquire a preset touch operation performed by a user on the electronic device.
The third acquiring unit 1413 is configured to acquire a preset voice signal input by a user into the electronic device.
The fourth acquiring unit 1414 is configured to acquire an operation of touching a preset virtual key on the electronic device by a user.
Of course, it is to be noted that, in some other embodiments, the acquiring module 141 may also include one or more of the first acquiring unit 1411, the second acquiring unit 1412, the third acquiring unit 1413 and the fourth acquiring unit 1414, or a combination thereof, and the present disclosure has no limitation thereto.
Further, as shown in
The determining unit 1421 is configured to determine a moving direction and a moving distance of the flexible panel.
The generating unit 1422 is configured to generate the switching instruction according to the moving direction and the moving distance of the flexible panel.
It is to be noted that the configuration of the determining unit 1421 and the generating unit 1422 in the apparatus embodiment shown in
With regard to the apparatus in the above embodiments, the specific manner in which respective modules perform operations has been described in detail in the embodiments relating to the method, and will not be explained in detail herein.
Since the apparatus examples substantially correspond to the method examples, a reference may be made to part of the method examples. The apparatus examples described above are merely illustrative, where the units described as separate components may be or not be physically separated, and the components displayed as units may be or not be physical units, i.e., may be located in one place, or may be distributed in a plurality of network units. Part or all of the modules may be selected according to actual needs to implement the objectives of the present disclosure. Those of ordinary skill in the art may understand and carry out the present disclosure without creative effort.
Correspondingly, the present disclosure further provides an apparatus of controlling a flexible panel, applied to an electronic device. The electronic device includes a plurality of sensor components; a flexible panel including a display region and a light transmitting region connected to the display region; one or more processors; and a memory configured to store processor executable instructions, where the processors are configured to: acquire a preset triggering operation on the electronic device; and generate a switching instruction for instructing the electronic device to switch display states according to the preset triggering operation. When the display region of the electronic device covers the plurality of sensor components, the electronic device is in a first display state, and when the light transmitting region of the electronic device covers the plurality of sensor components, the electronic device is in a second display state.
Correspondingly, the present disclosure also provides a terminal, including a memory, and one or more programs, where the one or more programs are stored in the memory and configured to execute, by one or more processors, instructions included therein for performing the following operations: acquiring a preset triggering operation on an electronic device; and generating a switching instruction for instructing the electronic device to switch display states according to the preset triggering operation. When a display region of the electronic device covers a plurality of sensor components, the electronic device is in a first display state, and when a light transmitting region of the electronic device covers the plurality of sensor components, the electronic device is in a second display state.
Referring to
The processing component 1702 usually controls overall operations of the apparatus 1700, such as operations relating to display, telephone calls, data communications, camera operations, and recording operations. The processing component 1702 may include one or more processors 1720 for executing instructions to perform all or part of steps of the above methods. Further, the processing component 1702 may include one or more modules to facilitate interaction between the processing component 1702 and other components. For example, the processing component 1702 may include a multimedia module to facilitate interaction between the multimedia component 1708 and the processing component 1702
The memory 1704 is configured to store various types of data to support operations at the apparatus 1700. Examples of these data include instructions, such as contact data, phone book data, messages, pictures, videos, and the like for any application or method that operates on the apparatus 1700. The memory 1704 may be implemented by any type of volatile or non-volatile storage device or a combination thereof, such as a Static Random Access Memory (SRAM), an Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EEPROM), an Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EPROM), a Programmable Read Only Memory (PROM), a Read Only Memory (ROM), a magnetic memory, a flash memory, a disk or an optical disk.
The power supply component 1706 supplies power for various components of the apparatus 1700. The power supply component 1706 may include a power supply management system, one or more power supplies, and other components associated with generating, managing and distributing power for the apparatus 1700.
The multimedia component 1708 includes a screen for providing an output interface between the apparatus 1700 and a user. In some examples, the screen may include a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) and a Touch Panel (TP). If the screen includes a touch panel, the screen may be implemented as a touch screen for receiving input signals from the user. The touch panel may include one or more touch sensors for sensing touches, slides, and gestures on the touch panel. The touch sensor may not only sense a boundary of touching or sliding actions but also detect duration and pressure associated with the touching or sliding operations. In some examples, the multimedia component 1708 may include a front camera and/or a rear camera. When the apparatus 1700 is in an operation mode, such as a shooting mode or a video mode, the front camera and/or the rear camera may receive external multimedia data. Each of the front camera and rear camera may be a fixed optical lens system or be capable of a focal length and an optical zoom capability.
The audio component 1710 is configured to output and/or input audio signals. For example, the audio component 1710 includes a microphone (MIC). When the apparatus 1700 is in an operation mode, such as a call mode, a record mode, and a voice recognition mode, the microphone is configured to receive an external audio signal. The received audio signal may be further stored in the memory 1704 or sent via the communication component 1716. In some examples, the audio component 1710 further includes a speaker for outputting an audio signal.
The I/O interface 1712 provides an interface between the processing component 1702 and a peripheral interface module. The above peripheral interface module may be a keyboard, a click wheel, a button, or the like. These buttons may include but not limited to, a home button, a volume button, a start button, and a lock button.
The sensor component 1714 includes one or more sensors for providing a status assessment in various aspects to the apparatus 1700. For example, the sensor component 1714 may detect an on/off state of the apparatus 1700, and a relative location of components, for example, the components are a display and a keypad of the apparatus 1700. The sensor component 1714 may also detect a position change of the apparatus 1700 or a component of the apparatus 1700, presence or absence of a touch of a user on the apparatus 1700, an orientation or acceleration/deceleration of the apparatus 1700 and a temperature change of the apparatus 1700. The sensor component 1714 may include a proximity sensor for detecting the existence of nearby objects without any physical contact. The sensor component 1714 may further include an optical sensor, such as a CMOS or CCD image sensor used in imaging applications. In some examples, the sensor component 1714 may further include an acceleration sensor, a gyro sensor, a magnetic sensor, a pressure sensor, or a temperature sensor.
The communication component 1716 is configured to facilitate wired or wireless communication between the apparatus 1700 and other devices. The apparatus 1700 may access a wireless network based on a communication standard, such as WiFi, 2G or 3G, 4G LTE, 5G NR or a combination thereof. In an example, the communication component 1716 receives broadcast signals or broadcast associated information from an external broadcast management system via a broadcast channel. In an example, the communication component 1716 may further include a Near Field Communication (NFC) module for promoting short-range communication. For example, the NFC module may be implemented based on Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology, an Infrared Data Association (IrDA) technology, an Ultra-Wide band (UWB) technology, a Bluetooth (BT) technology, and other technologies.
In an example, the apparatus 1700 may be implemented by one or more Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), Digital Signal Processors (DSPs), Digital Signal Processing Devices (DSPDs), Programmable Logic Devices (PLDs), Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA), controllers, microcontrollers, microprocessors or other electronic elements for executing the above methods.
In an example, there is further provided a non-transitory computer readable storage medium including instructions, such as a memory 1704 including instructions. The above instructions may be executed by the processor 1720 of the apparatus 1700 to complete the above method. For example, the non-transitory computer readable storage medium may be a Read-Only Memory (ROM), a Random-Access Memory (RAM), a CD-ROM, a magnetic tape, a floppy disk and an optical data storage device, etc.
After considering the specification and practicing the present disclosure, the persons of skill in the prior art may easily conceive of other implementations of the present disclosure. The present disclosure is intended to include any variations, uses and adaptive changes of the present disclosure. These variations, uses and adaptive changes follow the general principle of the present disclosure and include common knowledge or conventional technical means in the art not disclosed in the present disclosure. The specification and examples herein are intended to be illustrative only and the real scope and spirit of the present disclosure are indicated by the claims of the present disclosure.
It is to be understood that the present disclosure is not limited to the precise structures that have described and shown in the drawings, and various modifications and changes can be made without departing from the scope thereof. The scope of the disclosure is to be limited only by the appended claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 1 0419119 | May 2019 | CN | national |
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| 10225515 | Sun | Mar 2019 | B1 |
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| 20190302847 | Chen et al. | Oct 2019 | A1 |
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| 108600428 | Sep 2018 | CN |
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| Entry |
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| Partial European Search Report dated Jun. 15, 2020 in corresponding European Patent Application No. 19215150.4, 17 pages. |
| Extended European Search Report issued in European Application No. 19215150.4 dated Oct. 15, 2020. |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20200371556 A1 | Nov 2020 | US |
